Cebu City Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia, PCL Central Visayas chairman, said they believe that the councilor from a town in Negros Oriental contracted COVID-19 after the convention.
Around 17,000 councilors from across the country visited Metro Manila from February 26 to 28, 2020 for the PCL National Convention that was held at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City on February 27.
“What we believe is that when he contracted it, it was already after the PCL National Convention because after the day of the election, which was the 27th, ni-request man to siya nga magpabilin siya… He visited family and friends didto pa gyud sa Greenhills,” Garcia told CDN Digital on Thursday, March 12.
Earlier on Thursday, the Dumaguete City Interagency Task Force on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) confirmed that the first COVID-19 patient in the province was the councilor.
Read: Dumaguete mayor asks public not to panic
“We think nga his infection was not during the PCL Convention but after na when he visited family and friends,” Garcia added.
Nonetheless, Garcia said the PCL National Board is now tracing those who stayed in the same hotel with the councilor during their national convention.
“As of now, ang among gibuhat sa PCL National is among gitan-aw ang tanan nga nagstay [in the same hotel] ug among gi-closely monitor if they are showing symptoms. So dar, wa man gyuy nibalik sa amo nga naay symptoms that is why we are saying that this is an isolated case and it happened after [the PCL National Convention]” Garcia added.
Garcia also assured that no Cebu City had an encounter with the COVID-19-positive councilor throughout the convention. They also did not share the same hotel.
The councilor is one of the first two cases of COVID-19 outside Luzon.
At present, there are already 49 confirmed COVID-19 case in the country. The health department has also recorded yesterday, March 11, the second COVID-19 death in the country. /bmjo